It has long been known in the field of disposable absorbent articles that it is extremely desirable to construct absorptive devices, such as disposable diapers, sanitary napkins, incontinent briefs, bandages, wound dressings, and the like, presenting a dry surface feel to the user to improve wearing comfort and to minimize the potential for development of undesirable skin conditions due to the prolonged exposure to moisture absorbed within the article. Accordingly, it is generally desirable to promote rapid fluid transfer in a direction away from the wearer and into a retentive structure, while resisting fluid transfer in the reverse direction.
One viable prior art solution to the aforementioned problem has been to utilize a covering or topsheet on the exposed, wearer-contacting surface which comprises a web of formed, apertured thermoplastic film. Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,314, issued to Radel et al. on Aug. 3, 1982, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, discloses a representative formed film of this variety. Such webs utilize capillary fluid transport to conduct fluid away from one surface (wearer-contacting) into and through the web via three-dimensional capillaries formed into the material, and then into the underlying absorbent structure. In order to address consumer concerns with regard to plastic-like appearance and feel, webs of this variety have been developed which include an interconnected structure of fiber-like appearance in the interest of generating a more cloth-like, aesthetically-pleasing appearance. In addition, apertured, formed thermoplastic film webs have been developed which further include microscopic surface texturing (microtexture) and/or microscopic apertures (microapertures) to further enhance the visual and tactile impression of such webs. Representative film webs of this variety are discloses in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,463,045, issued to Ahr et al. on Jul. 31, 1984, and 4,629,643, issued Dec. 16, 1986 to Curro et al., the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Another viable prior art solution has been to utilize a fibrous material as a covering or topsheet on such articles, alone or as an overlay or laminate over other materials. A representative topsheet structure of this variety is disclosed in commonly assigned Published PCT Application WO 93/09741, published May 27, 1993 naming Aziz et al. as inventors, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Such fibrous materials may take the form of a woven or nonwoven web of a suitable fiber variety, and may or may not include discretely formed apertures in addition to the inherent porosity of the web itself. Webs of this variety also exhibit capillary fluid transport characteristics via the three-dimensional capillaries formed by inter-fiber spaces, likewise conducting fluid away from the wearer-contacting surface and into the underlying absorbent structure. Such webs exhibit an aesthetically-pleasing, cloth-like surface appearance and tactile impression due to the fibrous nature of the surface.
While capillary webs of the foregoing varieties are effective in transporting fluid, their effectiveness is limited in that such capillary structures can only move fluid once it reaches the capillary interior. Fluid which wets and remains on wearer contacting surfaces contributes to a "wet" tactile feeling or impression, and to the extent that such fluid may be colored or opaque also contributes to a "stained" visual impression. Surface textures naturally occurring in the material of the web or imparted thereto in formation further increase the likelihood that residual fluid will be trapped or retained on the wearer-contacting surface rather than entering capillary structures for transport away from the surface. Thus, surface topographies which contribute to desirable visual and tactile impressions when dry can also tend to retain residual fluid on the exposed surface and thus reduced desirability under in-use conditions.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a web with enhanced effectiveness in transporting fluid away from one surface which is initially contacted by a fluid.
More particularly, it would be desirable to retain visual and tactile properties of webs having fibrous or otherwise textured surfaces while promoting more rapid and more complete fluid transport away from the wearer-contacting surface and into the interior of an associated absorbent article.